In the summer of 1932-33, as part of a 5 Test series, Douglas Jardine arrived with his English team in Australia for the Ashes. Considering the birthing rivalry between the two cricketing nations and the wrath of the great Don Bradman on most of English bowlers, Douglas Jardine had cooked up a dangerous scheme that not only would make history, as it did, but also turn the tour in their favor.
The Plan
Douglas Jardine, born in Bombay, India in 1900, became one of the most controversial cricket captains of all time partly due to his single-minded attitude to win at any cost. After the MCC asked him to lead England to Australia, Jardine discussed his plan of containing Don Bradman with his bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce over dinner in the Piccadilly Hotel’s grill room in August 1932. Jardine, aware of Bradman’s potential, had been examining the 1930’s Oval Test footage that the Aussies had won with Bradman’s contribution of 232 runs. He noticed something that tickled him in just the right area, the difficulty Bradman had against balls that leapt off a length from Larwood, and appeared to be flinching and backing away. As soon as Jardine saw the loop hole he yelled out, “I’ve got it! He’s yellow!”
This was when he asked Larwood to bowl on the leg stump and make the ball come up into the body, ultimately forcing Bradman to play the ball into the paws of the closely placed fielders. Larwood instantly agreed and Bodyline was a go.
Bodyline or leg theory was not totally new to either nation as it had been used by both in earlier series. Bodyline required the bowler to ball continuous short pitched balls aimed at the leg stump with at least five players standing close in to the batsman. The short balls would suddenly bounce up posing a threat to the batsman’s body. Ultimately, the batsman would defend himself and be forced to bat defensively resulting into catches to the close in fieldsmen.
The Execution
Jardine’s plan achieved tremendous success during the match as Bradman was distracted by the close in fielders and couldn’t play a single ball unlike before. Especially, Larwood who was once a miner possessed the strength to toss the ball down at a great speed and with deadly accuracy and posed a big threat if he aimed for the head and the batsman didn’t get out of the way in time.
Many Australian players were also injured including Woodfull and Oldfield as a direct result of the Bodyline tactic. This added to the Australians’ fury because their batsmen stood a good foot aside of the leg stump and yet short-pitched balls were aimed at their bodies. The Australian Cricket Board sent an urgent telegram to the MCC demanding a ban on Jardine’s methods. The MCC however refused to do so and the tour was in jeopardy. But after high-level diplomatic meetings held amid the two conflicting nations Jardine was ultimately told to stop his dangerous tactics.
England eventually won the tour 4-1 and Bradman failed to impress as expected, averaging just 56.57 for the series against his career average of 99.94. England won back the Ashes from Australia and Bodyline was successful. However, the tactics cast a shadow on Jardine’s reputable career and forced him to resign from captaincy before the next Ashes tour and he never captained England again.
Also, The Laws of Cricket were altered so that the Bodyline series’ menace would be prevented from repeating.